Mae Hayashi
Born in Yokohama, Japan, Mae Hayashi graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts (Department of Vocal Music), receiving the Acanthus Music Award as well as the Doseikai Award as a top student, before earning her master's degree majoring in solo singing at the same college. She then completed the Suntory Hall Opera Academy’s Advanced Course where she studied under Giuseppe Sabbatini. She was also trained by Momoyo Kojima and Kazuko Nagai in Japan as well as Sonia Prina and Serena Farnocchia in Milan, Italy.
Hayashi has been active as a mezzo-soprano but also as one of the rare contralto singers in the world, fascinating the audience with her extensive repertoire ranging from Baroque to Romantic music.
In 2016, Hayashi made her European debut as Ragonde (Le comte Ory) and the Countess (Il conte di Marsico) at the Bad Wildbad Rossini Festival in Germany. She has since sung Azucena (Il trovatore) at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi di Busseto in Italy, Erato (Opera Minima, world premiere) at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, Lucia (Cavalleria Rusticana) at the Mascagni Festival, Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) under the baton of Hirofumi Yoshida at the Kaunas Opera Festival in Lithuania and many other roles.
In Japan, Hayashi has appeared in numerous opera performances singing roles, such as Flora (La traviata) under the baton of Nicola Luisotti at the Suntory Hall Opera in 2021 and Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) under the baton of Maiku Shibata at the Hiroshima Opera Renaissance. In addition, Hayashi has appeared in orchestral concerts as a soloist alongside the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michiyoshi Inoue for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, the New Japan Philharmonic led by the same conductor for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and the New Japan Philharmonic under the baton of Yutaka Sado for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 to name a few. A recipient of the prestigious scholarship “The Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs” for the year of 2019, Hayashi is currently a vocal member of the Bach Collegium Japan.
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